RIM offers $10k incentive for premium BlackBerry 10 apps

VP Alec Saunders: 'Make $10k in first year or we'll write you a cheque'

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BlackBerry has given its strongest sign yet that it is 100 per cent committed to the success of BlackBerry 10 with a lucrative reward for making premium apps

BlackBerry has announced an incentive program for app developers that gives them a revenue guarantee of $10,000 or £6,100 in the first year of their BlackBerry 10 app being live, meaning that if it doesn't make $10k BlackBerry will pay the developer the difference.

This bold announcement came during the BlackBerry Jam Session; the main keynote for app developers at BlackBerry World 2012 and is a clear sign that BlackBerry is putting in all its chips on BlackBerry 10.

BlackBerry App World growing faster than App Store and Google Play

VP of Developer Relations Alec Saunders was also able to confirm some of the statistics surrounding what many had thought was a declining BlackBerry App World.

Last year, the number of app vendors actually increased by a staggering 254 per cent, while the number of applications submitted to Blackberry grew by an impressive 226 per cent, all of which translates into an app store with 99,500 apps.

This makes the BlackBerry App World the fastest growing app store in the world, beating both Google Play and iTunes App Store. Saunders was keen however to highlight that this doesn't mean they were going to copy Google Play or iTunes.

"You don’t have to be one of those android developers who are just eeking out a living on AdSense."

Following on from this Saunders made a last minute announcement confirming that when BlackBerry 10 goes live, developers will be asked to hand back their BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha smartphones and will be given a limited edition version of the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone.